looking outside the service sector....
the american tangible economy is being propped up NOT by the decades-long reliable mass market consumer, but by more fragile forces.
1. IT\AI capex , which is the first ever displacement of mass consumer spending since ? end of WWII ?
2. accelerated spend by the wealthiest
on the latter, the middle market spender is losing headcount to the poor, and gaining some dropouts from the top tier. but their spend has become a less meaningful % with concurrent rising debt.
the tangible economy is effectively relying on even greater excesses from the deca-millionaire class, and more than several businesses have indicated they will attempt to cater exclusively to the mass affluent.
call me skeptical, but i doubt its the bulk of MAGA voters that have made this wealth climb regardless of market index levels; just as during delusions of milk&honey in trump 1.0
https://www.mbi-deepdives.com/the-resilience-of-consumer-spending-in-the-us/
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My spending has been rather high for over 5 years as I address home maintenance/upgrades prior to retirement. The threat of tariffs accelerated that somewhat. Much of that comes to an end this year for us. Basically running out of things that need to be done/bought.